Perfect Sense
by 7.06andcounting
Summary: Soda wants out of school. No problem, right? All he has to do is explain it to Darry... A one-shot inspired by a couple of other people's fics - details inside.


**A/N: Huge thanks to incense and peppermints for reposting her 'Portrait of a Dropout' which I'd been remembering fondly. I was also reading Emi-Ly Sway's 'For the Sake of Adaptation'. Both of them have a great take on Darry's reaction to Soda's dropping out. Check them out.**

**But what if Ponyboy **_**didn't**_** get it wrong ?**

* * *

I went over it in my head as I walked home. Over and over. It made perfect sense. He'd see that. He might not like it. Hell, he almost certainly wouldn't like it. _Fuck_, he was gonna hate it, but he'd still see it made sense.

So what I was gonna say was – and this would be calm, careful and clearly put – that I'd though it all through and it was best for all of us if I left school and worked full time, at a job I was good at, to ease the financial burden on him.

'_Left school'_, yeah, I thought that sounded way better than _'drop out'_ and I was particularly proud of _'ease the financial burden'_. Hell, that made it sound like a smart business move, even.

Nothing to do with me failing anything, nothing at all to do with another detention that was likely to spiral into a suspension if the full story ever got out. _Absolutely nothing_ to do with the girls' locker room.

Perfect sense. No problem.

He had his head in his hands when I went in. The dining table was scattered with papers, bills by the look of it. The cheque book sat off to one side, ominously closed. It was real quiet.

"No Pony?" I made him jump, he hadn't heard me come in. He looked embarrassed, started pulling the bills into one pile.

"Nah, he's kickin' around with Johnny somewhere." Very flat voice, not like him. Maybe this wasn't the perfect time for the perfect plan to be discussed. He was kind of tired, I could see.

"What's for dinner?" I didn't really care, I was just talking for the sake of talking.

Darry stopped tidying, clenched his fist on the piece of paper in his hand. "I don't know," he said quietly.

"I can do spaghetti with grated cheese," I told him brightly. I can. Spaghetti and pancakes, that's two recipes I can ace every time, even put a little flair in them, if I'm in the mood. We eat a lot of spaghetti. Pancakes too.

"Soda. Sit down."

I pulled out a chair opposite Darry, sat down warily, wondering if the school had already called, if I should have my excuse ready. I was pretty sure the fire extinguisher had been broken before I got to it. And they had no _proof_ I'd ever been near the girls' locker room, whatever those cheerleaders said.

"Listen, little buddy, I need to talk to you." Darry chewed his lip, looking at the bills, not me. "I got a hell of a problem. I never knew it took this much to run a house. I don't think I'm bringing in that much less than Dad did, not since I got the evenings at the warehouse, but it don't add up. We only just broke even last month and I don't think we're gonna do that by the end of this month."

I never saw him look like that, he was almost nervous. It spooked me some, because Darry's always been real confident. He always knew what to do, even when we were little kids. He's the one in charge.

He looked up. "If we get behind on something important, like the electric, or a doctor's bill, I'm scared the state might say I can't look after you both."

"So we tell 'em that's bullshit!" No way anyone's gonna tell my brother he don't cut it. And I didn't like him using the word 'scared'. That didn't fit him.

Darry shook his head. "But they'd be right. If I can't even keep the lights on, I ain't looking after things." He swallowed. "If they say Pony's gotta go to a boys' home..."

We held each other's gaze for a moment.

"Aw, shit, Soda. I think maybe you'll have to leave school, see if they'll take you full time at the DX."

Holy Crap. He thought 'leave school' sounded better too.

I guess he thought I was quiet because I was shocked, or sad, or something. He looked kind of sick.

"I'm sorry. I just think if you were workin', if it didn't look like I was trying to keep two school kids going, it might help."

"_Ease the financial burden_," I murmured.

"What?" He didn't hear me. I shrugged. Then I smiled.

"I think so too. Makes perfect sense to me."

* * *

**SO. Maybe Darry wasn't outraged at the idea of Soda dropping out. What do you think? Like? Hate? Let me know... **


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